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Over the past two centuries, First Nations people have been oppressed by the Canadian society and continue to live under racism. The struggles, injustices, prejudice, and discrimination has played a significant role in the construction and impact of how they are treated and viewed in the modern society. Saul Indian Horse from Richard Wagamese's "Indian Horse" and Chanie Wenjack from Gord Downie's "The Stranger" are the perfect examples of how the belief that First Nations were inferior to the Europeans impacted the Aboriginal generations. However, both of the characters can be compared and contrasted by the following ways. As they both go through the breakdown of family bonds and the traumatic sufferings of residential schools, but they differ …show more content…
Due to the following reasons and other Canada's racist policies towards Aboriginal people, their unemployment and poor education ratios are very high. The breakdown of family bonds is evidently noticeable in both of the texts. It was a great sorrow to both Saul and Chanie when they were indirectly isolated from their families. As in Saul's case, his parents (brainwashed by residential schools) left him alone with his grandmother, when his brother John perished from an excessive cough. As he describes in the story, "'Heathen,' my mother spat. ‘He is my son. We will take him to the priest.'" (Wagamese 31). Other than his parents leaving him, his grandmother Naomi who he loved the most, also took her last breath in his hands due to starvation and exposure to the harsh weather conditions, on their way to Minaki. Similarly, Chanie Wenjack who decided to escape from Cecilia Jeffrey School and walk 600km to Ogoki Post, to see his family, died just after covering 19km. Being lonely and isolated from his family, he was emotionally forced to risk his life and travel in harsh weather conditions, with only a cotton windbreaker and no food. As a result of diminished family …show more content…
Just let me catch my breath."
Like Chanie, Saul also gets a chance to escape the traumatic sufferings at the residential schools. As he gets adopted by Fred Kelly, on the basis of his magnificent and impressive hockey skills. Therefore, the dreadful horrors of the residential schools played an important role in shaping the future lives of not just Saul and Chanie but all the other Aboriginal children who attended the
Stories are much more than just ink placed in clean rows on paper or dialogues that travel through air columns. All stories transform worldly experiences into sources of inspiration and perspicuity and Saul Indian Horse’s story is no exception. In Richard Wagamese’s novel, Indian Horse, Saul Indian Horse explains the events that have resulted in him receiving treatment for alcoholism at a rehab centre. Readers are exposed to the former hockey player’s moments of triumph, failure, and everything that falls in between. Saul mentions in his story how a leisure pursuit like hockey granted him temporary freedom and happiness from his sorrow-filled life. Saul’s example can inspire First Nations individuals to remain resilient in the face of adversity.
The negativity seen in today’s society and the awful stereotypes about Aboriginals would never exist if was not for all the racism and savagery they had to endure. Zen Master and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh said, “Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.” A reader can identify that one of the main messages to be taken from Indian Horse, is that hope drove Saul to keep on working hard and that residential schools were never able to take away Aboriginal people’s hope. A reader would think that Saul’s acceptance of coaching the Moose is not for his own gain, but also to help the kids who play on the team, both physically and
Indian Horse is a novel by Richard Wagamese that beautifully explores the idea of family, and what it means to have people around you that make you feel at home. The reader is bombarded with an overwhelming sense of family and betrayal in the first few pages of the novel. As Richard Wagamese continues to write, one is able to see how safe Saul Indian Horse felt with his biological family, and he also shows how lost he felt without their love when he was taken to the Residential School. The school he was brought to was drained of all consensual love the moment it was open, and continued to fill the children with horrible feelings the entire time they were there. Indian Horse was unable to really feel as though he still had family while he was in the
The over-representation of Aboriginal children in the Canadian Child Welfare system is a growing and multifaceted issue rooted in a pervasive history of racism and colonization in Canada. Residential schools were established with the intent to force assimilation of Aboriginal people in Canada into European-Canadian society (Reimer, 2010, p. 22). Many Aboriginal children’s lives have been changed adversely by the development of residential schools, even for those who did not attend them. It is estimated that Aboriginal children “are 6-8 times more likely to be placed in foster care than non-Aboriginal children (Saskatchewan Child Welfare Review Panel, 2010, p. 2).” Reports have also indicated that First Nations registered Indian children make up the largest proportion of Aboriginal children entering child welfare care across Canada (Saskatchewan Child Welfare Review Panel, p. 2). Consequently, this has negatively impacted Aboriginal communities experience of and relationship with child welfare services across the country. It is visible that the over-representation of Aboriginal children in the child welfare system in Canada lies in the impact of the Canadian policy for Indian residential schools, which will be described throughout this paper.
Aboriginal people in Canada are the native peoples in North America within the boundaries of present-day Canada. In the 1880’s there was a start of residential schools which took Aboriginal kids from their family to schools to learn the Roman Catholics way of culture and not their own. In residential schools Aboriginal languages were forbidden in most operations of the school, Aboriginal ways were abolished and the Euro-Canadian manner was held out as superior. Aboriginal’s residential schools are careless, there were mental and physical abuse, Aboriginals losing their culture and the after effects of residential schools.
In conclusion, Wiebe’s novel shows clear examples of how unjustly the Aboriginal and Metis people were treated. Through this, he sends a subtle message to the reader that all people deserve respect and to be treated equally.
Residential schools are cultural schools established through a joint effort by the government and Catholic church with the sole purpose to assimilate Aboriginal children into the modern Canadian lifestyle. Under the severe conditions faced in the Residential Schools, students would adapt to the torture and scrupulous teachings of the residential schools through various means; such as isolation. Upon leaving the school, while majority of kids would struggle to forget the brutal times they faced, a handful of others would persevere to build a new life. Perseverance means to work hard and take action with determination even in times of difficulty. In the novel, Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese, the protagonist, Saul, shows perseverance in hockey
Systemic discrimination has been a part of Canada’s past. Women, racial and ethnic minorities as well as First Nations people have all faced discrimination in Canada. Policies such as, Charter of Rights and Freedoms, provincial and federal Human Rights Codes, as well has various employment equity programs have been placed in Canada’s constitution to fight and address discrimination issues. Despite these key documents placed for universal rights and freedoms Aboriginal and other minority populations in Canada continue to be discriminated against. Many believe there is no discrimination in Canada, and suggest any lack of success of these groups is a result of personal decisions and not systemic discrimination. While others feel that the legislation and equality policies have yet resulted in an equal society for all minorities. Racism is immersed in Canadian society; this is clearly shown by stories of racial profiling in law enforcement.
Growing up on a reservation where failing was welcomed and even somewhat encouraged, Alexie was pressured to conform to the stereotype and be just another average Indian. Instead, he refused to listen to anyone telling him how to act, and pursued his own interests in reading and writing at a young age. He looks back on his childhood, explaining about himself, “If he'd been anything but an Indian boy living on the reservation, he might have been called a prodigy. But he is an Indian boy living on the reservation and is simply an oddity” (17). Alexie compares the life and treatment of an Indian to life as a more privileged child. This side-by-side comparison furthers his point that
... a variety of readers, Drew Hayden Taylor uses a variety of tones. His views on First Nations stereotypes are expressed through his essays “What’s an Indian worth These Days” and “Why did the Indian block the Road”, and through his use of humorous, which shows how ridiculous stereotypes are, informative, which gives disproves stereotypes through evidence, and sarcastic tone, which stretches a reader’s understanding about a topic, he is able to challenge and contradict stereotypes about First Nations people.
The needs of Aboriginal youth are not being met in mainstream systems. Undoubtedly, with the high dropout rate of “7 out of 10 first nation youth drop out of school” (Donovan, 128), the school system is failing them. Across Canada only “23 percent of the Aboriginal population has their high school diploma” (Donovan, 129). Aboriginal people make up the youngest and fastest growing segment of our population, and yet many still have significantly less education than the general population.
Thomas King uses an oral story-telling style of writing mingled with western narrative in his article “You’re Not the Indian I Had in Mind” to explain that Indians are not on the brink of extinction. Through this article in the Racism, Colonialism, and Indigeneity in Canada textbook, King also brings some focus to the topic of what it means to be “Indian” through the eyes of an actual Aboriginal versus how Aboriginals are viewed by other races of people. With his unique style of writing, King is able to bring the reader into the situations he describes because he writes about it like a story he is telling.
First, is because of the attitudes of European Canadians towards aboriginals, which were mostly cruel and inhumane. This was simply because the aboriginals lived a completely different lifestyle compared to European Canadians. Evidence to support this was the statement written by Duncan Campbell Scott, who used to be head of Indian Affairs in Canada
Saul’s journey as a Canadian Aboriginal is a resemblance of what other innocent Aboriginal Canadians experience as a result of the government’s imperialistic policies. One of which being, The Indian Act of 1876, which purpose is to assimilate Indigenous youth into mainstream Canadian society through the Residential School system. Moreover, as Canadians continue to deal with the immensely troubling legacy of residential schooling, Indian Horse makes a prominent input to this ongoing process. Throughout the novel, the impacts of the cultural genocide that Indigenous people encounter through the Residential School system resembles a significant part of Canadian history. In addition, throughout the novel, racism is prevalent and in which signifies the discrimination that continues to exist in today’s society. Many Canadians participate in extracurricular activities, whereas Saul perceives Hockey as an escape for his abuse. Indian Horse, written by Richard Wagamese serves as a powerful novel which purpose is to educate the Canadian population on the darkest moments in Canadian history and where Canada currently stands as a
Adjusting to another culture is a difficult concept, especially for children in their school classrooms. In Sherman Alexie’s, “Indian Education,” he discusses the different stages of a Native Americans childhood compared to his white counterparts. He is describing the schooling of a child, Victor, in an American Indian reservation, grade by grade. He uses a few different examples of satire and irony, in which could be viewed in completely different ways, expressing different feelings to the reader. Racism and bullying are both present throughout this essay between Indians and Americans. The Indian Americans have the stereotype of being unsuccessful and always being those that are left behind. Through Alexie’s negativity and humor in his essay, it is evident that he faces many issues and is very frustrated growing up as an American Indian. Growing up, Alexie faces discrimination from white people, who he portrays as evil in every way, to show that his childhood was filled with anger, fear, and sorrow.